JPH08206561A - Adhesive coating device - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] [Purpose] To reduce the dead time for waste adhesive coating work. [Structure] A blank area having a plurality of blank positions is set in a blank portion on a substrate. When performing the adhesive application work for the application points where the adhesive has not been applied (S1: Y), it is determined whether the waste adhesive application work is necessary (S1).
2). In this case, it is determined to be necessary when a certain time or more has elapsed since the last time the adhesive application work was performed. If it is determined that it is necessary (S2: Y), the discard position is selected (S
3), discard coating work is performed (S4). The disposal position is selected by obtaining the disposal position where the coating head moves from the current position to the disposal position and the movement distance from the disposal position to the next coating point is the shortest. After this, the adhesive application work for the next application point is executed (S5). The waste coating operation is executed with the movement distance of the coating head being the shortest, and the time required for the waste coating operation can be shortened.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an adhesive application device which applies an adhesive to a predetermined application point of an application object such as a substrate by an application head.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, for example, an adhesive applying device for applying an adhesive for temporarily fixing an electronic component to a printed circuit board on which an electronic component is surface-mounted has been provided. This type of adhesive coating device is a substrate transfer mechanism that carries a substrate into and out of a working position, a coating head having a syringe that stores the adhesive, a coating nozzle that discharges the adhesive, and the like. It is provided with an XY movement mechanism for freely moving above the substrate, a visual recognition mechanism for detecting the application state of the adhesive, a control device including a microcomputer for controlling each of these mechanisms, and the like.

With this, the control device determines the predetermined coating point of the substrate carried into the working position according to a coating program which gives the data of the coating point on the substrate and the coating operation sequence which are given in advance. Move the coating head upward and lower the coating head to apply the adhesive.
It is designed to be repeatedly executed for a plurality of application points.

When performing such an adhesive coating operation, for example, when the next coating operation is performed after a certain time has elapsed from the previous adhesive coating operation (for example, a new substrate is carried in). In such a case, if the coating operation is performed as it is, the adhesive is hardened at the coating nozzle and the amount of adhesive discharged is too small, or excess adhesive adheres to the tip of the coating nozzle and adheres. There is a possibility that the applied amount of the agent becomes excessive.

Therefore, in order to perform a high-quality and stable adhesive coating operation, as shown in FIG.
Of these, a blank area 2 is set in a so-called blank area that has nothing to do with component mounting, and the blank area is coated with an adhesive. For example, the shape and size of the blanked adhesive are set. Based on the detection by the visual recognition mechanism, the ejection conditions (ejection pressure and ejection time) of the adhesive in the application operation to the next application point (P2) have been adjusted.

[0006]

By the way, it can be said that the above-mentioned disposal application work is an extra work that is deviated from the regular adhesive application work, so it is desirable to keep the number of execution times as small as possible. Further, even when the waste coating operation is unavoidable, it is desirable to shorten the time required for one waste coating operation as short as possible.

Here, when performing the waste coating operation, the position in the waste area 2 where the waste coating operation is performed is important for shortening the working time. That is,
As shown in FIG. 6, assuming that the coating head is present at the current point P1, and after the waste coating is performed, the adhesive is applied to the next coating point P2. a
When the coating is discarded, the moving distance of the coating head is L1.
It becomes + L2. On the other hand, when the point-c coating is performed, the moving distance of the coating head becomes L3 + L4, and the total path length becomes shorter than that at the point a.

At this time, since the length of the moving path is proportional to the moving time, it is possible to shorten the time required for the dead-end coating work by applying the dead-end coating to the point c.
In the conventional device, since the discard position in the discard region 2 is not particularly considered,
The time required for the waste coating operation was not necessarily short, and so to speak, the dead time was long.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to provide an adhesive coating device capable of reducing a dead time in a waste coating operation.

[0010]

The adhesive coating device of the present invention sequentially applies an adhesive to a plurality of coating points on the coating object while moving the coating head relative to the coating object. Whether or not to perform the adhesive disposing application work by the application head at any of a plurality of disposal positions in the disposing area during the adhesive applying work. And a moving means for moving the coating head from the current position to the discarding position and relatively moving from the discarding position to the next coating point when executing the dispensing application work. The invention is characterized in that it comprises a selecting means for selecting the shortest trimming position (the invention of claim 1).

In this case, the cut-off area can be provided in a blank portion on the application object or outside the application object (the invention of claim 2), and further, the cut-off area can be provided.
It can also be provided at a plurality of locations (the invention of claim 3). Then, when the determination means determines to execute the waste coating operation, the coating order is set so that the next coating point after the waste coating operation is the coating point close to the discarding position among the plurality of coating points. It is also possible to provide a coating order changing means for changing the above (invention of claim 4).

[0012]

According to the adhesive application device of claim 1 of the present invention,
The judging means judges whether or not the adhesive coating application work is to be executed.
By performing the case where the blanket coating work is absolutely necessary, it is possible to minimize the execution of the blanket coating work and prevent the unnecessary blanket coating work from being performed. Then, when performing the waste coating operation, the selecting means selects the waste position where the relative movement distance of the coating head is the shortest, and the waste coating operation is performed at the waste position. Therefore, the time required for the waste coating operation can be minimized.

In this case, the discard area may be provided not only in the margin of the object to be coated but also outside the object to be coated (invention of claim 2). The waste coating operation can be performed even when the necessary blank portion does not exist on the object. Furthermore, the dead area can be provided in a plurality of places (the invention of claim 3), and according to this, the selection branches of the dead position are increased, and the coating head for executing the dead coating operation. It becomes possible to further shorten the relative moving distance of.

If a coating order changing means for changing the coating order is provided so that the next coating point after the discarding coating operation becomes a coating point close to the discarding position (the invention of claim 4), It is possible to further shorten the relative moving distance of the coating head when performing the waste coating operation.

[0015]

The first embodiment of the present invention (claims 1 and 2)
1) will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 3. First, although not shown in detail, the overall configuration of the adhesive application device according to this embodiment will be briefly described. That is, as shown in a partly simplified manner in FIG.
A substrate transfer mechanism for loading and unloading 1 into and from the work position is provided. The substrate carrying mechanism is provided with a belt conveyor mechanism along the substrate carrying path, and a backup mechanism for holding the substrate 11 in a positioned state and supporting the lower surface thereof is provided at the working position.

On the main body base, in order to freely move the dispensing unit having the coating head 12 and the dispensing unit above the substrate 11 located at the working position in the X and Y directions (horizontal direction). XY
A moving mechanism 13 is provided. This XY movement mechanism 13
As is well known, a Y-axis direction moving unit 14 for moving the dispensing unit (coating head 12) along a rail extending in the Y-axis direction, and an X for moving the Y-axis direction moving unit 14 in the X-axis direction. The axial movement unit 15 is provided.

The coating head 12 is detachably provided with a syringe containing an adhesive and is provided with an application nozzle located at the tip (lower end) for ejecting the adhesive. . Further, the syringe is connected to a pressure adjusting mechanism via a tube, and the pressure adjusting mechanism causes the inside of the syringe to have a positive pressure so that a required amount of adhesive is discharged from the application nozzle. ing.

The dispensing unit comprises, for example, a plurality of coating heads 12 each of which is vertically movably supported, and is provided with an elevating mechanism for vertically moving each of the coating heads 12. Further, the dispense unit has a visual recognition mechanism such as a CCD camera with an illuminating light source for detecting the positioning mark of the substrate 11 and detecting the application state (application diameter, shape, etc.) of the adhesive on the substrate 11. Is provided.

The adhesive coating device is provided with a control device mainly composed of a microcomputer. This control device controls each of the above-mentioned mechanisms according to the data of the coating points on the substrate 11 and the coating program for instructing the coating work sequence which are given in advance, carries the substrate 11 into the working position, and The coating head 12 on the upper side
While moving, the work of applying the adhesive to the predetermined application points is sequentially performed, and the substrate 11 on which the work is completed is automatically carried out repeatedly.

At this time, as will be described in detail later in the description of the operation, the control device has a software configuration so that the application head 12 can perform the discarding application operation of the adhesive during the application operation of the adhesive. Determine if it is necessary,
When necessary, it is designed to perform a waste coating operation. This waste coating operation is performed in order to eliminate the deterioration of the quality of the adhesive coating due to the clogging of the coating nozzle and the remaining adhesive at the tip of the coating nozzle. Based on detecting the shape and size of the adhesive that has been discarded by the visual recognition mechanism, and then discharging the adhesive in subsequent coating operations. The conditions (discharging pressure and discharging time) are adjusted.

Further, the waste coating operation is performed by the coating head 12
The adhesive is applied (discarded application) to any position within the discarded area by the control device. At this time, the control device controls the disposal position where the moving distance of the application head 12 is the shortest. Is selected to perform the disposing application work. Therefore, this control device functions as the judging means and the selecting means according to the present invention.

Further, in this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 3, a blank area (a portion not related to component mounting) on the board 11 is stored in the control device in advance as a discard area 16. It has become. At this time, the control device divides the scrap area 16 into small areas necessary for one scrap coating operation (shown by broken lines), and sets the respective central positions of the small areas to the scrap positions a to f. It is supposed to do. Therefore, the location of the waste coating operation is selected from these waste positions a to f.

Next, the operation of the above configuration will be described with reference to FIGS. During the adhesive application work, the control device determines whether to perform the waste application work and selects the waste position according to the flowchart of FIG. That is, when the substrate 11 on which the coating work is not performed is carried into the working position, first, in step S1, it is determined whether or not there is a coating point on the substrate 11 where the adhesive has not been coated. In this case, one substrate 1
Until the adhesive application work for 1 is completed (No), the result is always Yes and the process proceeds to step S2.

In step S2, it is judged whether or not the application work of discarding the adhesive is necessary. As a criterion for this determination, for example, elapsed time can be adopted, and when a certain time or more has passed since the last time the adhesive application work was performed, it is determined that the waste application work is necessary. As a result, when there is a risk that the adhesive will harden and become clogged at the application nozzle portion, or excess adhesive may adhere to the tip of the application nozzle, a waste coating operation is required (discard coating operation Is executed).

On the other hand, when only a short time has passed since the previous coating operation, that is, when the coating operations are sequentially performed at short time intervals, there is no risk of clogging of the coating nozzle or adhesion of the adhesive as described above. Therefore, it is not necessary to dispose of the adhesive by discarding it. In this step S2,
When it is determined that the discarding application work of the adhesive is not necessary (No), the adhesive application work for the next application point is executed in step S5, and the process returns to step S1.

Then, when it is determined in step S2 that the work of applying the adhesive by discarding is necessary (Y
es), in the next step S3, the discarding position at which the discarding application work is to be performed is selected. This choice is for the application head 1
2 is moved from the current position to the disposal position, and the disposal position where the movement distance when moving from the disposal position to the next coating point is the shortest is obtained by calculation.

Now, in the example of FIG. 3, there are six disposal positions a to f in the disposal region 16, whereas the coating head 1
Assuming that the current position of 2 is P1 and the next application point is P2, for example, when the waste coating is performed at the waste position a, the movement distance of the coating head 12 becomes long as L1 + L2, but the waste position c In the case of performing the partial coating, the moving distance of the coating head 12 is L3 + L4, which is the shortest distance. In addition, when the discarding position c has already been discarded, the selection is performed from the five discarding positions a, b, d, e, f excluding the discarding position c.

When the discard position is determined in this way,
In the next step S4, a waste coating operation is performed on the selected waste position. Thereafter, in step S5, the adhesive application work for the next application point is executed. As a result, the waste coating operation is executed with the movement distance of the coating head 12 being the shortest, and thus the time required for the waste coating operation can be minimized.

According to the present embodiment as described above, it is determined whether or not the waste coating operation is necessary, and the waste adhesive coating operation is performed only when necessary. The execution of can be minimized. Then, when performing the dispensing application work, the application head 12
Since the discarding position where the movement distance of is shortest is selected and the discarding coating work is performed at the discarding position, the time required for the discarding coating work can be minimized.
As a result, unlike the conventional one in which the time required for the waste coating operation is not necessarily short and the dead time is long, the dead time relating to the waste coating operation can be reduced, and the work efficiency is improved. It is possible to improve.

FIG. 4 shows a second embodiment of the present invention (claim 3).
Corresponding to). Here, in the substrate 11 which is the application object, the discarded areas 16 and 17 are spread over two places.
There is a point to be provided. In this case, the discard area 1
6, there are 6 discard positions a to f, and the discard region 1
In 7, there are two discard positions g and h. According to this, the selection branch of the discarding position is increased, and it becomes possible to further shorten the moving distance of the coating head 12 when performing the discarding coating operation.

FIG. 5 shows a third embodiment of the present invention (claim 4).
Corresponding to). In this embodiment, when it is necessary to perform the discarding coating work, among the coating points for which the coating work has not been completed yet, the discarding region 16 is more than the point P2.
When there is a coating point (point P3) close to the point, the coating order is changed so that the next coating point after the waste coating operation is the point P3 instead of the point P2. According to this, it is possible to further shorten the moving distance of the coating head 12 when performing the waste coating operation.

In each of the above embodiments, the discard area is provided on the object to be coated (substrate 11). However, for example, in the vicinity of the working position, a dedicated discard area made of another member is provided. Alternatively, the dedicated discard area and the discard area on the substrate 11 may be used together. Further, in the above-mentioned embodiment, the substrate 11 fixedly arranged.
The coating head 12 side is moved with respect to
The application head side may be moved with respect to a fixedly provided application head, or both may be moved.

[0033]

As is apparent from the above description, the present invention has the following excellent effects.
That is, according to the adhesive application device of claim 1 of the present invention, the determination means for determining whether or not to perform the adhesive disposing application work, and the disposition making the relative movement distance of the application head shortest. Since the selection means for selecting the position is provided, it is possible to reduce the dead time associated with the waste coating operation.

In this case, the discard area may be provided not only in the blank area on the object to be coated but also outside the object to be coated (adhesive coating device according to claim 2). Even when there is no necessary blank portion on the object to be coated, the waste coating operation can be executed. Furthermore, the dead area can be provided at a plurality of locations (adhesive coating device according to claim 3), whereby the number of options for the dead position is increased, and the dead area coating operation is performed. The relative movement distance of the coating head can be further shortened.

Then, a coating sequence changing means for changing the coating sequence so that the next coating point after the discarding coating operation becomes a coating point close to the discarding position is provided (adhesive coating according to claim 4). Device), it is possible to further shorten the relative movement distance of the coating head when performing the waste coating operation.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 shows a first embodiment of the present invention, and is a flow chart showing a processing procedure during a coating operation.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view schematically showing a configuration of a main part of an adhesive application device.

FIG. 3 is a plan view of a substrate for explaining a method of selecting a discard position.

FIG. 4 is a diagram corresponding to FIG. 3 showing a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a view corresponding to FIG. 3 showing a third embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a view corresponding to FIG. 3 showing a conventional example.

[Explanation of symbols]

In the drawings, 11 is a substrate (application target), 12 is a coating head, 13 is an XY moving mechanism, and 16 and 17 are discard areas.

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A method in which an adhesive is applied to a plurality of application points on the application object in order while the application head is moved relative to the application object, during the adhesive application operation. In the case of executing the discarding application work, a determining means for determining whether to perform the discarding application work of the adhesive by the application head at any of a plurality of discarding positions in the discarding area. , Selecting means for selecting a disposal position where the movement distance when the coating head moves from the current position to the disposal position and relatively moves from the disposal position to the next application point is selected. An adhesive application device characterized by the above. 2. The adhesive application device according to claim 1, wherein the discard area is provided in a blank portion on the application object or outside the application object. 3. The adhesive application device according to claim 1, wherein the discard area is provided at a plurality of locations. 4. When the determination means determines to execute the waste coating operation, the next coating point after the waste coating operation is set to a coating point close to the waste position among the plurality of coating points. The adhesive application device according to any one of claims 1 to 3, further comprising an application order changing means for changing the application order.